Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a chemical preservative used in food that is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). FDA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the use and safety of BHA.
At present, FDA does not disclose the identity of companies involved in outbreaks without an associated recall because it considers a company name to be “confidential commercial information." Stop Foodborne Illness argues this practice is not legally consistent.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to food regulatory legal expert Kathleen Sanzo, J.D. about the implications of FDA’s voluntary approach to phasing out synthetic food dyes from the U.S. food supply and how food companies can prepare.
As part of its efforts to encourage industry to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic food dyes, FDA is expanding the allowed uses of the label claim “no artificial colors” on food products and has approved a new naturally derived colorant for food.
Following the ByHeart botulism outbreak, FDA intends to begin testing infant formula products and ingredients for Clostridium botulinum to help determine whether contamination by the pathogen is a “foreseeable hazard that companies could test for.”
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund’s newly published Food for Thought report outlines food recalls and foodborne illness outbreak investigations that occurred in 2025 and provides recommendations for improving the U.S. food recall system.
FDA has released the Total Diet Study Interface (TDSi), an interactive, web-based tool that provides streamlined access to findings from FDA's Total Diet Study and highlights the agency's emphasis on food chemical safety.
A new paper describes U.S. regulatory agencies’ roles in two recent, high-profile foodborne illness outbreak investigations—the Boar’s Head listeriosis outbreak and the McDonald’s Escherichia coli outbreak—and highlights the shortcomings and strengths in how the outbreaks were managed.
FDA has issued a Request for Information regarding labeling and preventing cross-contact of gluten in packaged foods, in an effort to improve transparency in the disclosures of ingredients that impact certain health conditions (such as gluten for those with celiac disease) and other food allergens.
FDA has shared information about a contaminated ingredient—organic whole milk powder—in the multistate outbreak of infant botulism associated with ByHeart powdered infant formula.
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